The Christians, who are Protestants and a minority among the Catholic-dominated country, were victims of a raid that destroyed their homes on January 4.

Christian Today reports that the perpetrators of the violence are thought to be the commissioner of the community, Jimenez Hernandez, and the municipal agent, Francisco Jimenez Santiz.

International Christian Concern (ICC) reports that “in the rural areas where we see persecution, many villages and their councils are dominated by adherents to syncretistic Catholicism.”

Syncretistic Catholicism is a religion that mixes Catholicism with native beliefs and rituals.

Since Protestants are a minority in Mexico, “they have no access to the financial, legal, or political resources necessary to end the persecution they suffer,” according to ICC advocacy manager Nathaniel Lance.

Lance stated that persecution often begins with “financial disagreements, where village leaders want the Protestants to pay for the religious festivals, and other things used for syncretistic Catholic rituals.”

Although Protestants face persecution in Mexico, Catholics do as well. In 2014, more Catholic priests were killed in Mexico than anywhere else in the world.